Leap Wireless International, a San Diego company that provides cell-phone service under the Cricket and Jump brand names, announced a third-quarter net loss yesterday of $7.6 million, or 13 cents a share.

The results compare with $957.3 million in net income for the third quarter of last year, but that figure included a $963.2 million one-time gain after the company emerged from bankruptcy in August 2004.

Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $230.5 million, an 11 percent increase over last year's revenue of $206.9 million.

"As we head into the end of the year and look to 2006, I am excited by how fast the company is changing to improve our competitive position," Doug Hutcheson, Leap's president and chief executive, said in a conference call with investors and financial analysts.

Leap, a spinoff of Qualcomm, offers wireless service to 1.6 million customers in 40 markets in 20 states. Over the next two years, the company plans to expand to markets that include San Diego; Cincinnati; Kansas City, Mo.; Houston; Lexington and Louisville, Ky.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Austin, San Antonio and El Paso, Texas; and Las Cruces, N.M.

In August, Leap began offering cell-phone service in Fresno.

Leap said it added 23,000 net customers in the third quarter, reversing a net loss of 8,000 customers for the same quarter last year. The net additions include new customers in the Fresno area but exclude the transfer of 19,000 customers in Michigan that is the result of the company's sale of its network in that market.

In a research note published last month, analyst Christopher Larsen of Prudential Financial said the addition of newer markets is likely to drive Leap's growth in the near future.

"Leap Wireless' capital structure has improved significantly since the company's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy," according to the analyst.